Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29164 in VHS
• Released on: 1998-06-02
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Digital Video Transfer, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 125 minutes

Customer Reviews

SHADES OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS! THIS MOVIE ROCKS!
I saw this movie in a Store and it looked interesting and I liked the actors in it so I figured I would give it a Shot! Boy, was I BLOWN AWAY! Why havent I heard about this movie before? This Movie was EXCELLENT! It amazes me that some of the reviewers here didnt like it! The Story definatley has the same feel as a Tennessee Williams Story. It it hard to talk about the plot without giving too much away but I will say that the movie deals with the bond between two men who form an unlikely friendship! The way their friendship progresses in this film is so paced perfectly! The one man is trying to escape his past and in the meantime is trying to help his much weaker friend escape his present! The film deals with Deep Dark and Ugly Family Secrets(Very Ugly Secrets) and I will admit that this is No Feel Good movie! But, if you love great character driven dramas with an edge, this film is for you! I LOVED IT!

High Drama!
I have a thing about Ashley Judd. She is one of my favorite actresses so it's not surprising that I look for her movies. Last night I watched `The Locusts,' a slow moving movie of high drama set in rural Missouri and of course featuring Ashley Judd as Kitty, who was actually supporting actress to, Kate Capshaw who played Delilah Ashford Potts.

The way the story goes, the widow Potts owns Ashford farm, a cattle feed farm, employing many of the area's young men and occasionally taking one of them as her lover.

Clay Hewitt (Vince Vaughn), a drifter, is hired by Potts, who has plans for him but he takes up instead with Kitty. He also makes friends with his boss's twenty-one year old mute son, Flyboy (Jeremy Davies) and with persistence begins to bring him out of his shell.

Reputedly, thirteen year old Flyboy found his father hanging from a tree and had been institutionalized until recently, where he went home and became the cook. Flyboy wouldn't talk and performed his duties with his gaze diverted and the widow Pott's seemed to like it that way. When Clay befriended her son, Pott's seemed to resent it and started to do mean things. This ultimately ended in tragedy.

Conclusion
Although the story didn't particularly grab me, there was some damn good acting here. No not from my sweetheart Ashley Judd, though she did alright. Both Vince Vaughn and Jeremy Davies played their characters to a tee and put on great performances. Even Paul Rudd did his character proud.
The story centered around Flyboy and Clay's efforts to get him to open up. Fly boy ostensibly discovered his has father hanging from a tree after committing suicide. The alleged reason he killed himself was that he once often found his serial adulteress wife in his bed with a lover.
Neither the plot, story, time period (late 50's) or setting were particularly compelling for me. Nevertheless, the movie was well directed, the cast was well chosen and they did a commendable job. Final rating 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Sickening
Rarely do I read other reviews before I write my own. I want to focus on a careful expression of my thoughts before allowing the influence of the considered (and often excellent) opinion of others. But I just didn't care enough about this movie to try to think carefully and then express carefully. I wanted to dash off a review--and quickly check to see if others were also offended--to warn to avoid this film. So, first, these opinions from other reviewers:

"Nagging and dragging". . . Exactly!

"Nauseating". . . Exactly!

It is sickening to see this level of cruelty and hatred in a film. Anything positive here--the fun and sexy relationships between the young couples, the camaraderie between workers, between drinkers, the attempts at compassion, at befriending--seems so shallow, so trite, so false. Anything evil here--the hatred of the mother, the sexual sin of the son--seems so real, so true. This is sickening stuff. This isn't a film; it is a pathology report.